The present invention relates generally to laser plane generators and, more particularly, to laser plane generators which are operable to selectively adjust a laser plane in response to one or more inputs.
Laser beam projectors and receivers are often used in the construction industry or in agricultural land leveling applications to ensure that the targeted area is graded in the proper or desired slope or grade. The laser beam projector is placed in a known position and one or more sensors are placed in the targeted area to sense the impingement of the laser beam. It is known to have laser beam projectors which are self leveling laser plane generators and which further provide for orientation of a desired grade or slope to the laser beam plane.
A laser plane generator typically includes a laser source for generating a beam of collimated light and a rotating mechanism for rotating the beam of light about an axis to generate a plane of light. In order to provide a substantially level plane, it is necessary to have a known orientation for the laser plane with respect to the true earth reference. Typically, the laser plane is oriented perpendicular to the earth's gravitational field, such as by manually leveling the mechanism or by a self leveling mechanism. Self leveling mechanisms are operable to orient each of a pair of horizontal axes, which are generally orthogonal to one another, in a generally level orientation, via a corresponding pair of servo motors and inclinometer sensors. Additionally, some laser plane generators are operable to orient the laser plane at an angle with respect to the level orientation by rotating each or both of the axes according to the desire slope.
Laser plane generators are often implemented in agricultural land grading applications, where large tracts of land are graded at a very slight grade, in order to facilitate drainage from the tract of land. Such applications require substantially accurate grade requirements over very large regions, and thus require accurate and consistent laser planes to be generated while the work is in progress. However, the laser planes may be bumped or otherwise misaligned over time, or may drift due to changes in temperature. In the large, open areas where these devices are often used, the temperature variations from dawn to dusk may be quite large. Such grade or plane fluctuations may result in improper grading of the tract of land and, thus, lead to additional time and labor to correctly level or grade the targeted land.
Additionally, some grade alignment type laser generators are highly complex units which function to level the system and then rotate the laser source and rotating prism about a vertical and horizontal axis to align the desired grade plane in a proper orientation. This is accomplished by first rotating the laser source and prism about a vertical axis until the horizontal axis is generally perpendicular to a targeted reference point. While such laser projectors facilitate generating a laser plane at a desired grade and orientation, these units and complicated and relatively expensive over non-grade or leveling only units. Additionally, the higher number of moving parts within the units may raise reliability concerns over a prolonged period of time.
Another common usage for laser plane generators is to implement the laser generators for interior use, such as for aligning a wall and/or ceiling within a building. The laser beam is oriented such that the beam is visible on a wall or ceiling as it is rotated, and thus communicates to a worker the proper location or orientation of the wall or ceiling. However, the laser beam is difficult to see with the human eye as it is rapidly rotated and thus intermittently flashed along the surface of the walls or ceilings. In order to enhance visibility of the laser beam, it is known to provide a function on the laser transmitter or generator to oscillate the beam back and forth over a desired location, which results in a more visible laser beam line along the targeted wall or ceiling. However, such a function is set manually at the laser transmitter or requires a special target to be continuously held in the path of the laser beam while the beam oscillates. Such a manual process may be difficult to perform when the laser transmitter is positioned at a ceiling) or upper portion of a wall.